Don’t Bring Your Pals to the Interview!By Admin

June 21, 2010

No, a job interview is not an opportunity to have a group outing! Seriously? Are you kidding me? How serious are you about getting a job or is this just something to do to fill your day before your nail appointment with your girlfriends? Or were all of you thinking about going shopping and “by-the-way I have to stop and get interviewed first”?

While sitting at my desk today this woman left the lobby and strolled to the back of our offices. As she walked past my desk (about forty feet beyond the lobby, clearly in the employees only “office” space area) I finally noticed the woman, strolling by in a leisurely fashion just looking and wandering about. I spoke up, “good morning, may I help you?” “Where’s the restroom?” she barked. “The other direction, down that little hall” as I pointed in the direction she needed to go. She then meandered in that direction. After about five minutes, doesn’t she come strolling around again past my desk?

Now mind you, picture this….front door, very large gorgeous lobby with a receptionist. Around the corner from the reception area are clearly marked restroom signs. But beyond this and separated by a half wall and very large plants there is this entire opened working space with about thirty or so desks filled with staff who were more than likely on their phones. And she’s wandering amongst them!

“How can I help you this time?” I said again as she walks past my desk. “Where the lobby?” “The OTHER direction!”

She and another woman were here with their friend who had the appointment with a job counselor. Do you think the first thing her counselor will tell her is to leave friends and family outside? If not they should!

Are people that unaware of appropriate professional behavior? Is this something that needs to be taught? Do people not know of common courtesy as a guest in another’s work space? An uninvited visitor who takes it upon themselves to wander about in a business is equivalent to a guest in your home going thru your closets and drawers. It simply is NOT DONE!

Besides not bringing your pals with you into the interview, and don’t even get me started on the spouses who insist upon being part of the interviewing process and takes it upon themselves to answer all of the questions for the potential candidate, there are very basic protocols that must be adhered to at your time of visit. Be respectful of someone else’s space. It’s theirs. You are not free to touch, pick up, examine, or wander in that space. If you must bring your children with you to the interview (and it is not recommended to do so but things do happen we understand) you’d better make sure your children follow the same respectful rules. Bring something for them to do while you wait as schedules can easily shift and change without anyones control.

I suppose I will eventually blog on the spouse speaking for you issue some other time but for the time being let me just say – bad idea! VERY BAD idea!

The woman who brought her girlfriends with her today I feel already began on the wrong foot. Personally I wonder how serious she was about finding a good, well paying job opportunity as this interview appeared from the behavior of her friend to be just a girl’s day out! I hope I’m wrong about that!

Agree Pamela. I often wonder if people have never heard of the “golden rule”…treat others as you would like to be treated yourself”. Simple courtesy is sometimes the best form of respect one can give to another. Maybe we can teach them here and at our web site: http://www.championjobs.com Thank you for writing in!

Makes you wonder if they will go to work with them too. Not everything is meant to be done in groups! Put on your big boy/girl pants and go by yourself. If you aren’t really interested…don’t waste everyone’s time.

Excellent Article. Thank you!!
I heard an NPR radio interview where there are SOOO few NEW workers in China (due to the one-child law), candidates for jobs TAKE personal phone calls in the interview, and get away with it.

True Robert. But even here in the States people are foolish enough to answer their phone during an interview. For heavens sake if you really want a job, turn your phone OFF during your interview. You want no interruptions during that time as you are trying to convince them you are the best choice for that job. Imagine the interviewer answering phone calls during your interview….how rude would that be? Thanks for your comment!

I suggest not even leaving people in a car in the parking lot. I heard a story about a manager who walked out to go to another building and saw a group of people sitting in a car (two girls and two guys). They were playing loud musing and the girls were sitting on the guys laps. So he walked over and asked if he could help them and they said we are waiting for our friend to get done interviewing. So the manager asked the friends name and it turns out the friend was going to interview with him. What a great first impression.